They say every day isn't great....

Every day isn't great - but there is something great in every day.  This weekend was living proof of that.  To me, weekends start on Friday afternoon, and this week my Friday afternoon was ROUGH.  Despite it being the birthday of 2 wonderful people {Michael and Eleanor} it was also the day of the memorial service for my children's principal {Mr. C} and the day I found out about some complications that happened to my friend and her child during the babies delivery.  To say the least, that part of the weekend was not great. I sobbed the entire memorial service. I honestly couldn't control myself and walked away with a wal-mart bag full of used kleenex (I'm a smart thinker and brought in my own box of tissues). My mind was then busy praying for my friend and her baby. 

To help me snap out of my funk I decided to share the great things that did happen this weekend. Things I am very grateful for:

* My youngest decided that once the baby (mentioned above) was born - he would no longer use training wheels while bike riding.  By golly he stayed true to his word and on Friday he was riding without training wheels. The most amazing part is that I didn't have to help him AT ALL ~ he just took off riding and did it! (I did find out later that he had been practicing at day care.)

* I got to go shopping while camping. A girl's dream come true!  The hubby and kids when on a scheduled hike with a group of other people and I wanted to dash up to the hospital to check on friend/baby.  After finding out that they were improving wonderfully I had time to run to a few stores and stop at a few garage sales (that just happened to be en route to the stores). I got some screaming deals at the Real Deals store (that is only open two days a week), picked up some great sale items at JoAnn Fabric, and found some stuff for camping at the garage sales.  The hike was a success for the rest of my family and my outing was a success for me!

* During the camping trip I got to spend some quality times with the kids in the great outdoors. No bill paying, tv watching, house cleaning, or laundry washing to distract us.  (We also enjoyed more reeses peanut butter cup smores - YUM.)

* One day/night I got to read the first numbered book in the Janet Evanovich series about Stephanie Plum. I'd been wanting to find a good book that was an easy entertaining read and I got that with this book. I was actually bummed that I didn't have #2 with me so I could start reading it too.

* I got to enjoy a fun four wheeler ride with Jennifer (a different one) and our kids.  We first went on a nice mommies only ride and then picked up the youngsters. With them we stopped to take pictures by a waterfall and even let the kids pick out a rock to keep as a souvenir (because you know a kid can never have to many rocks).  I haven't been on a four wheeler for probably 7 years so it was nice to go on a relaxing ride with a friend and share it with a child too.

* After coming back home (and taking necessary showers) we headed back to town and enjoyed a dinner out at our favorite burrito restaurant and then peeked in on friend/baby to discover they were both doing AWESOME!!! Baby was making huge improvements and Mommy was recovering really well.  Talk about putting a smile on my face and warmth in my heart!

Here are a few other photos from the weekend.

All the kids and teachers were invited up on stage during the memorial service to sing the school motto in memory of their principal. Then everybody got together (arms linked) and sang 'take me out to the ball game' in his memory because he loved baseball. It was a really special moment where we were all able to come together in Mr C's honor.

The ONLY way to eat a smore from here on out!! How did I not think of this sooner?

I love how I'm not the only one who can just stare at a campfire. I'm not sure why it is so mesmerizing and requires people to stare at it for hours.

Sample of above mentioned fire.

There were a few minor injuries while camping.  Two bike wrecks and a woman (me) who thought she could chop wood - while wood decided it should fly off at warp speed and hit me in my shin.